Song Jinning looked at Gu Nianzhi and turned to Huo Shaoheng quizzically. “Can I say?”
Huo Shaoheng nodded. “Nianzhi’s security level is almost the same as mine. Just speak your mind if you want to.”
Song Jinning was taken aback. “Almost the same as yours? That high?”
Because they were already married… Huo Shaoheng wanted to come clean with Song Jinning, but before he said anything, he quickly glanced at Gu Nianzhi. Gu Nianzhi’s face flushed. Her hands were clasped together and placed in front of her lips. She looked down. Her long lashes were quivering, and she was peeking at him through them.
Huo Shaoheng’s heart softened. He gulped and said calmly, “Yes. It was decided by management.”
Upon hearing that, Song Jinning stopped probing. Taking a seat, she opened the notes in her computer and began narrating the entire incident for Gu Nianzhi. “We will have to talk about what had happened 20 years ago.
“Twenty years ago, the army secretly contacted my father, Doctor Song Haichuan, to ask him about the hypotheses of strange magnetic field energy, and showed him a set of data of some strange magnetic field energy that the army had gotten coincidentally. This set of data had practically opened the door to a whole new world for him.
“My father immediately agreed to work with the army and began doing highly confidential research in magnetic field energy. However, no one had any idea what had gone wrong. Seventeen years ago, just when the research was about to have a breakthrough discovery, the experiment was met with a severe accident. The energy from the strange magnetic field suddenly exploded, and it affected every single person who was in the laboratory doing the experiment at that point in time.
“I was the only one… Shaoheng’s eldest uncle, Colonel Huo Guanyuan, pushed me roughly out of the laboratory. Every single person who was inside was dead. My father and some other scientists were killed on the spot. The bodies of Huo Guanyuan and four other soldiers could not even be found after.” Song Jinning looked at the records on the computer, and her eyes turned red.
Gu Nianzhi looked at her sympathetically and sat beside her. She leaned her head onto Song Jinning’s slender but upright shoulders. Song Jinning patted her on the cheek and took a deep breath before continuing with her story.
“After that, I… went into a state of mental confusion and don’t remember what happened after. Whatever happened after that was told to me by Shaoheng.” Song Jinning looked up at Huo Shaoheng.
Huo Shaoheng nodded and continued narrating the story. “After my maternal grandfather and eldest uncle passed away, the army put a halt to this experiment. Firstly, it was due to the passing of the most important researcher for this experiment, and as for the second most important researcher, she had gone into a state of mental confusion. Those who were left behind were not capable enough to shoulder the responsibilities of this experiment. Secondly, due to the huge magnitude of the explosion of this strange magnetic field energy, the army was not sure if they still wanted to continue with the research in order to open Pandora’s box.
“It was like that until seven years ago, when Bai Jinyi, who was already the director of the Institute of High Energy Physics, reported to the army that she had managed to get information on an instance of strange magnetic field energy and that it was almost identical to the one that was detected 17 years ago. She even said that C City was the location of the strange magnetic field energy. That was the reason why we were there and set up equipment to receive the energy.
“However, the experiment that time did not succeed either, because the car Nianzhi was in barged into the radius of the magnetic field energy and caused a huge accident.”
Gu Nianzhi gasped. “So that was the reason why the car I was in exploded into ashes? It was because of the explosion of that strange magnetic field energy?!”
Huo Shaoheng nodded slowly. “That was our guess. However, that only remains a guess because we were unable to replicate the experiment to confirm our hypothesis.”
Song Jinning lifted the old phone that had belonged to Huo Guanyuan. “We discovered that Bai Jinyi had not gotten the information on her own. She had gotten it from this phone.”
“To put it simply, someone sent information to this phone and provided the location of the strange magnetic field energy.” Huo Shaoheng took the old, black smartphone from Song Jinning’s hands and looked it over before returning it to her.
“Does that mean that whenever the strange magnetic field energy appears, this phone would have information?” Gu Nianzhi asked curiously, looking at that phone. “However, it alerted before the magnetic energy appeared seven years ago. Why did it alert after the energy had gone this time?”
Huo Shaoheng and Song Jinning looked at each other and were both impressed by Gu Nianzhi’s observation.
“Our Nianzhi is still the cleverest.” Song Jinning liked her even more. She embraced Gu Nianzhi with one arm and caressed her hair. “That’s the issue we’ll have to solve.”
Why would it be a delayed alert this time?
Huo Shaoheng folded his arms and walked around Song Jinning’s study and mumbled, “Actually, we shouldn’t be led around by this phone.”
“I agree!” Gu Nianzhi raised her hand readily, agreeing with what Huo Shaoheng just said. “I feel that we should investigate who sent the information to this phone. Wouldn’t that help more?” It would be much better to take the initiative to find out who it was, rather than to go around to the specific location each time the phone had information.
Huo Shaoheng had more information about that. Turning around, he looked at Gu Nianzhi and said calmly, “We don’t have to deem the person who sent information to this phone as important. That set of data for the strange magnetic field energy appeared one other time, but the phone did not give any warning.”
“It appeared another time?!” Gu Nianzhi’s eyes opened wide. “Where?! How did you guys manage to get it?”
“It appeared in the Gulf of Aden, at the Indian Ocean. It was near the Red Sea. Many countries had sent military Naval vessels to take a look at that time.” Huo Shaoheng sat on the window ledge and stretched his legs before continuing, “Because we are not the only country who is doing the experiment.
“America, Germany, and Japan are all doing this experiment as well. We had been leading, but now… We’re falling behind,” Song Jinning said gloomily and was not glad about this at all.
“Oh… I see…” Gu Nianzhi’s beautiful lips opened and closed. The expression on her face was extremely exquisite. “What do we do, then? Are there any ways to surpass them again?”
“Yes.” Suddenly, Song Jinning wanted to make fun of Gu Nianzhi again. Hugging Gu Nianzhi by the shoulders, she said, “Nianzhi, if you were to join us, we would definitely be able to surpass them!”
Gu Nianzhi was momentarily speechless. “Auntie! You’re making fun of me again!” Gu Nianzhi hugged Song Jinning and whined as she rubbed her head on Song Jinning’s shoulders.
Song Jinning laughed. “Too bad you have no interest in physics. Otherwise, we would definitely be so happy if you would work together with me!”
“Auntie, you have so many colleagues, you will definitely be able to find some who think along the same wavelength as you.” Gu Nianzhi smiled as she gave Song Jinning a hand gesture of a heart. “Good luck!”
Seeing that they were drifting off topic, Huo Shaoheng dragged Gu Nianzhi out from Song Jinning’s embrace. “It’s getting late. Madam Song, get some sleep. It’s already the first day of the New Year. I still have to bring Nianzhi to General Ji’s place for visiting early in the morning. Do you want to go with us?”
“Why would I go?” Song Jinning waved her hands. “Alright, alright. I got it. Go and get some rest, both of you. You still have to get up early later on. I’ll just start another program to calm the system down.” With that, she chased Gu Nianzhi and Huo Shaoheng out of the study.
